Henderson State used solid free throw shooting and got another big game from Kaylon Tappin as the Reddies beat Harding 85-81, Thursday at the Duke Wells Center in Arkadelphia, Ark.

The Reddies, 8-7 overall and 3-6 in the Great American Conference, snapped a seven game losing skid to the Bisons.

Harding started the game on fire jumping out to a 13-2 lead in the first 1:40 hitting five straight field goals including three 3-pointers. Henderson' s only points were a pair of free throws by Chris Parker that ended a 10-0 run by the Bisons.

Tappin produced Henderson's first field goal at the 16:44 mark and quickly followed with a 3-point field goal to cut the deficit to 13-7.
Behind the perimeter shooting of Zac Ward and Alex Francis, Harding built a 32-20 lead with 6:40 to play in the half.

Henderson would mount a charge in the final six minutes as the defense limited Harding to just one field goal the rest of the half as the Reddies finished the half with a 15-4 run to trail 36-35 at the break.

The Reddie surge was started by a put-back basket by Brad Nairn followed by a breakaway dunk by DJ Franklin. Henderson also got a Josh Jones trey and layups by Matt Panaggio and Tanner Hamilton during the run.

The second half began with Franklin scoring the first three field goals including a pair of 3-pointers in the first 90 seconds to give HSU a 43-38 advantage.

The two teams would battle back-and-forth until Tappin hit a 12-foot jumper to give the Reddies the lead for good at 62-61 at the 10:59 mark.

Parker scored eight of his 12 points in the final 10 minutes while Tappin adding 7 points in the final 8 minutes.

Henderson used its conference leading free throw shooting the rest of way to hold off Harding as the Reddies hit 12-of-15 free throws.

Tappin finished the night with 26 points including going 9-for-11 at the foul line, while Franklin scored 13 points along with pulling down 7 rebounds.
Parker ended with 12 points and three assists, and Nairn scored 8 points and a team-best 8 rebounds.

Henderson finished the game shooting 44 percent from the field making 28-of-64 shoot from the floor as well as shooting 75 percent from the foul line (24-of-32).

The Bisons connected on 30-of-59 shots for a 51 shooting percentage including being successful on 12-of-30 shots from beyond the arc.
Henderson won the battle of the boards with 46 rebounds compared to 32 for Harding.

The Reddies have a quick turnaround as they play host to Southern Arkansas on Saturday with tip-off set for 3 p.m. at the Duke Wells Center.